Be productive in a difficult environment - What works in cold sports halls and overcrowded trains?

I regularly accompany my son to sports halls. In the best case, the hall is close to us, and I have a seat on a wooden bench in the corner. In other cases, we enter the crowded Metronom, and I sit in a cool hall. In one way or another, this is an environment in which I find it more difficult to concentrate than at home in my home office. As a result, I cannot do the work I would have done in my home office. What tasks are available to do in such moments instead? To answer this, I need to experiment with positively using my time during train journeys and, ideally, during the waiting times in the hall.

1st attempt: documentation work

My first attempt was to do documentation work. I assumed that this unloved and, at the same time so, important work requires less concentration than programming. The work felt very productive. However, as soon as I had to deal with more complex workflows, my bet that "less concentration is enough" didn't work. I realized afterward that I had made many mistakes - e.g., typos in field names or incorrect field types declared. All small things that made the result unusable for later use. Developers must invest more time because they cannot use the interface properly due to incorrect documentation—an absolute no-go.

2nd attempt: reading a technical book

My second approach was to read technical books. I could pick up the first chapters of a technical topic very well. These were usually repetitions of aspects I already knew - a refresher. As soon as the content went beyond what I was already familiar with and I had to deep dive into the content, possibly even recreate programming examples, this approach no longer worked for me. Either I skipped the programming and thus gained little in-depth knowledge, or it took me a very long time to write the necessary lines of code.

To circumvent this problem, I started taking less demanding or less technical books with me. That worked better, but I ended up taking fantasy novels with me. I couldn't get any further away from a technical book. The time was well spent because I enjoyed reading, but it didn't meet the objective.

3rd attempt: content creation

Then, I realized that I should take on a task that requires detailed preparation on the one hand and a quality check before completion on the other to detect any inattention: the content creation process was the right choice for me.

I need time to research, write keywords, and collect thoughts. The same goes for formulating and translating the texts - lots of small steps where I can easily be distracted and interrupted to start again seamlessly. And before the final publication, I take the time to proofread in a quiet atmosphere. Perfect.

Conclusion

This series of experiments showed me how important it is to experiment and be open to the outcome. Since then, I have used the time I spend waiting longer than 5 minutes on the train, in the hall, or wherever else to prepare my articles, think of new topics, or refine texts I have already prepared.

Alternatively, pulling out a good fantasy novel from my backpack or listening to a fantasy podcast with my son is very tempting. These are good ways to use the time and not just sit around.

If you also like fantasy, here are my recommendations:

• Morriton Manor is an entertaining German-language pen and paper round.
• Dice Actors a German Dungeon & Dragons campaign.
• Dungeon Masters at Pocket Casts is in English - a cowboy meets RPG nerds there.

To round off the picture - I still use my time on the subway or buses to read. Working on the content only works in trains, such as the Metronom or ICE, or sitting in the sports hall.

Who else has experience with this topic? Share your tips!